CHAPDISC: HBP 2, Spinner's End

[ellecain]

No: HPFGUIDX 142078

After snipping Potioncat's great summary, Elyse rbs her hands in glee 
and delves into these excellent questions. Thanks Potioncat!

> 
> 1. Bellatrix kills a fox, thinking it could be an Auror. Does she 
> suspect Snape's home is being watched, or is she always looking 
over 
> her shoulder for an Auror? Do you think all DEs would be this 
trigger 
> happy, or is it just Bella?

Elyse: I think its just Bella. To this woman, Cruciatus is a routine 
everyday curse,I doubt she has any qualms about throwing Killing 
curses around. 
Also the AK is understandable for someone who spent years in Azkaban 
and doesnt want to revisit anytime soon. She made the mistake of 
getting caught once, and closely escaped Azkaban again a few weeks 
back. She'll be damned if shes going to get caught a second time, no 
matter how many people she has to kill to avoid it.

But what really bothers me about this scene is why she didnt say the 
words of the curse aloud. She is certainly loquacious enough in the 
rest of the chapter, so why be silent when casting a Killing Curse?
The dark mood of the chapter would have been enhanced by lines 
like "A harsh cry of Avada Kedavra pierced the night..." or something 
like that. Is the omission of the incantation significant?
Is this foreshadowing the possible use of a non verbal spell in the 
Lightening Struck Tower? Or are we going to see a silent Avada 
Kedavra in book seven?

<snip 2 since I'm no sociologist>
> 
> 3. Bella knows Narcissa is going to visit Snape, but she is caught 
by 
> surprise (equaling that of many from this list) at the location. 
She 
> calls it a Muggle dunghill and doubts that any of "our kind" has 
ever 
> set foot there. In fact, Snape, Pettigrew and Narcissa all seem 
> familiar with the area. Yet it was Bella who was supposed to be 
part 
> of young Severus's gang. What do you think is going on here? How 
long 
> do you think Snape has been using this location?

Elyse: Actually I've never been convinced that Bella was a part of 
Snape's Slytherin gang. I know Sirius says so in GoF, but I remember 
the ACID POPS threads that it was Narcissa who was closer in age to 
Snape and the Marauders. If it was Narcissa as opposed to Bella who 
was  a classmate of Snape's, and if this is really his childhood home 
then I can see a possibility of her knowing where he lived. OTOH this 
seems highly unlikely since her pleading with him seemed to consist 
of "You are Lucius' old friend" and not "You are my old 
friend/classmate/gangmember"
But if this was, as has been speculated, a temporary fixture in the 
style of Slughorn,a sort of on-the-run location, broken into and 
fixed up, it makes the question even more interesting. If it was just 
a random house that they were using, how did Narcissa know the place 
unless she had been told? How come she knew the streets so well that 
she never took a wrong turn in those twisting lanes? I doubt the 
street signs, if any survived undamaged in such a neighbourhood, were 
legible in the light of the broken streetlamps. How does she know the 
way so well that she never gets lost? Hmm.... I better place an order 
for those ACID POPS.....

> 
> 4. Snape's tiny sitting room is lined with leather bound books and 
> contains a threadbare sofa, an old armchair and a rickety table. It 
> had the "feeling of a dark, padded cell." A padded cell is used for 
> someone who needs protection from himself. What does this room, or 
> the house and neighborhood, tell us about Snape? Do you think this 
is 
> his usual home away from Hogwarts?

Elyse: If it was his usual home away from Hogwarts, he should have 
had some good solid furniture. I doubt that rickety table was great 
for writing essays on. The lack of personal knickknacks like photos 
etc and the minimalistic interior decor makes me discard this as his 
home aay from home. Snape is an antisocial person, I expect him to 
spend more time in his house than the average fellow, maybe slightly 
agoraphobic tendencies anyway. Snape's house is  his sanctuary. I 
expect it to be more comfortable if not aestheically pleasing.

As for the dark padded cell description, it bothers me a lot. Why are 
all four walls stacked with books? Even the doors couldnt be left 
alone for Pete's sake! Couldnt he keep the books in his bedroom 
instead of blocking the entry and exit routes? Or couldnt he get 
magical bookcases that expand like the MoM cars Harry goes to Diagon 
Alley in? This compulsive papering of the walls is slightly freaky 
IMO and does suggest that he needs therapy. And of course there is 
always Suicidal!Snape....

> 5. Narcissa is described as having a note of hysteria in her voice 
> and the look of a drowned person. She then enters a room that has 
the 
> feeling of a padded cell.  What does that tell us about Narcissa?  
> How does that fit with her actions later in this chapter?

Elyse: May I be the first one to propose Suicidal!Narcissa?
 I can imagine her feeling suicidal when both her son and her husband 
are going to be killed somewhere in the near future, and she would be 
next in line for punishment once Draco fails and Lucius goofs up 
again. But hey, if your going to kill yourself, take as many people 
as you can down with you! Go to Snape's asylum...oops, I mean house.
Take your lunatic sister who should be in an asylum, force the man to 
take a *suicidal* vow to save your son from his *suicidal* mission 
given to him by a homicidal maniac. Oh and accept some *blood red* 
wine of questionable nature from a man who is supposed to be 
*dead*...now there a way to go out of this world!

> 
> 6. Snape, Narcissa and Bella drank a toast with blood-red wine. I'm 
> not sure which image came sooner to my mind at that point: Vampire!
> Snape or Sir Patrick Spens and his wrecked ship. In English 
ballads, 
> nothing good comes after drinking "bluid-red" wine.  Elf-made wine 
> doesn't sound too safe either. How many stories involve some danger 
> at drinking something made by elves or fairies? These are magical 
> folk, so perhaps it's not so dangerous. Do you think this was just 
> setting the magical mood, or was JKR waving a flag?

Elyse: If you believe in Suicidal!Narcissa, JKR is certainly waving 
a "blud-red" flag.

> 
> 7. This is a serious chapter, with lots of dark images. It's 
> informative too, but it's difficult to decide which information is 
> truth and which is deception. What images or feelings made an 
> impression on you? How do they affect your interpretation of the 
> story? 

Elyse: Oh the chapter was so full of images, and they all had an 
impact. The snakelike cords, the interplay of shadow and light, the 
pale trembling hands of Narcissa and the infamous twitch...
But I want to know exactly where in canon it says Narcissa 
is "wraithlike". She is described as slim, not skinny. Slender, yes, 
but skeletally thin, no. And why is Bella never referred to with 
respect to size? Is Bella a bit on the plump, matronly side? It 
doesnt seem fair to mention Narcissa's frame if Bellatrix if thin as 
well.
And when it says the chimney reared up like an "admonitory finger" 
did anyone else think of a rude hand gesture,or was it just my dirty 
mind?

Elyse, who has to rush and has no time to respond further, but isnt 
worried because she has nothing original to add anyway